The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Aspects of the invention relate to an assembly of a first and second constructional part, wherein the first constructional part has a first end and an opposite second end connected by a central part extending substantially perpendicularly to a surface of the second constructional part, wherein the first end of the first constructional part is connected to said surface of the second constructional part by means of an encapsulating material at least partly surrounding said first end and adhering to said surface of the second constructional part and wherein the first constructional part between its first and second ends is provided with at least one protruding part.
The manufacture of such an assembly of first and second constructional parts may comprise the following steps: positioning the first end of the first constructional part onto or near to the surface of the second constructional part, engaging the first constructional part near to its first end in a sealing manner with a sealing tool for (mostly with other additional tooling) creating a receiving space for the encapsulating material, supplying into said receiving space between said tool and the surface of the second constructional part the encapsulating material which will surround the respective part of the first constructional part for securely adhering it to the surface of the second constructional part and finally, after the encapsulating material has cured or otherwise solidified sufficiently, removing the sealing tool.
The application and removal of the sealing tool in many cases is hindered by the protruding part of the first constructional part. One possible remedy could be that the protruding part is provided after the first and second constructional parts have been connected in the above manner. This, however, only is possible if the protruding part allows to be provided onto the first constructional part at such later stage, for example when the protruding part is connected to the first constructional part through releasable fasteners, e.g. screws, bolts or alike (which also allows to remove a protruding part of a previously manufactured first constructional part at an earlier stage), or if the protruding part can be permanently connected to the first constructional part at such later stage by means of an appropriate process, for example overmolding (which means that a molding material is injected around both parts). In both instances, however, the complexity (and thus cost) of the manufacture is increased.
Alternatively the sealing tool could be adapted to allow it to move past the protruding part without being hindered by it, for example when the protruding part is an integral part of the first constructional part which cannot be removed temporarily or be provided at a later stage. The sealing tool, for example, could comprise multiple parts movable relative to each other. Such a complicated sealing tool however would substantially increase the cost of manufacture, compared to a situation in which a basically one-part sealing tool simply would slide along the first constructional part towards or away from its sealing position. Moreover, such a multiple-part sealing tool offers an increased risk of leakage of the encapsulating material.
In practice the presence of such at least one protruding part often leads to a situation in which the manufacture of the assembly is not carried out in the above manner with the use of an encapsulating material, but simply by using an adhesive to connect the first constructional part to the second constructional part. This, however, has the disadvantage that the strength, reliability and durability of the connection between both parts (and thus the quality of the obtained assembly) may be reduced.